12. Notes the establishment of an Iraqi Assistance Fund, with an international advisory board including duly qualified representatives of the secretary-general, the International Monetary Fund, appropriate regional institution(s) and the World Bank, to be held by the Central Bank of Iraq, and to be audited by independent public accountants chosen by the international advisory board;

13. Decides further that the funds in the Iraqi Assistance Fund shall be disbursed at the direction of the authority, in consultation with the Iraqi interim authority, for the purposes set out in paragraph 14 below;

14. Underlines that the Iraqi Assistance Fund should be used to meet the humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people, for the economic reconstruction and repair of Iraq's infrastructure, for the continued disarmament of Iraq, and for the costs of indigenous civilian administration, and for other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq;

15. Decides that the Iraqi Assistance Fund shall enjoy the privileges and immunities of the United Nations;

It's anyone's guess where the brain cell shared by the US Marine Corps currently is, but one thing's a certainty -American military brainpower is the only weapon of mass destruction presently located in Iraq.

Iraqi-held WMD were quoted long and loud as the primary reason why troops were sent in.

Two-way toss-up left where Shia loyalties will lie - Iraq/Iran

Three-way toss-up between Turkey/Syria/Iran arguing over where and when Kurdistan will be next year.

The only toss the US ever gave for this place was for the black sticky slippy stuff, and that coin was always going to land eagle up.

Iraqis are suffering such a serious fuel shortage they will have to get emergency imports, even though their country has the world's second largest oil reserves.

American soldiers monitor the petrol pumps
Drivers now spend their days waiting for petrol, some of them queuing up well before dawn in lines that stretch for kilometres.

And it has not improved their tempers to hear that the United States and Britain are vying for control of Iraqi oil revenues in a new Security Council resolution.

But the fuel comes from reserve supplies. Iraqi oil production itself is in post war limbo, partly because there has been looting at oil fields, and many workers do not feel safe enough to return.

There is order at this station, but in general petrol sales are in a state of chaos.

"The black market is very big now," says station manager Fawzi Ali.

"We can't control it without protection, we can't control anything. The citizen here fills his car and gets outside, and then siphons it from his tank and sells it on the black market for 10 times more than the official price."

The Americans have announced plans to import emergency supplies for at least the next month. The occupying powers urge patience, they say they cannot fix the country so soon after the war.

But many Iraqis are questioning whether they can govern the peace, in their anger remembering the order imposed by the old regime, not its abuses.

Drivers now spend their days waiting for petrol
"George Bush gave promises but he's done nothing," said one angry driver.

"There's no medicine, no food, no petrol, no electricity, no safety, no security, nothing. Saddam Hussein provided everything, even free medicine. There's nothing like this from America, Americans only point the gun at people, when you talk to them, they say go go go, only this."

A key obstacle holding up oil production is the unknown fate of United Nations sanctions.

The Security Council is debating a draft resolution meant to lift them. But it would take control of Iraq's oil revenues from the UN and give it to the US and Britain until a legitimate Iraqi Government is formed, and that doesn't go down well here.

"Now [the Americans and British] are claiming they will stop the sanctions, in order to get more wealth from Iraq than before," says driver Karim Taher.

"We will be robbed if the sanctions stop. We don't want any barrel of oil to go out of Iraq without the observation of the United Nations."

Britain and the United States have promised to use the money to rebuild Iraq, in close consultation with Iraqis.

But the reality for many here is that after sanctions, Saddam Hussein and war, their greatest wealth is in the hands of an occupying power, and that makes some even more bitter about this fuel shortage.

Drivers now spend their days waiting for petrol
"George Bush gave promises but he's done nothing," said one angry driver.

"There's no medicine, no food, no petrol, no electricity, no safety, no security, nothing. Saddam Hussein provided everything, even free medicine. There's nothing like this from America, Americans only point the gun at people, when you talk to them, they say go go go, only this."

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My only question about the above quote, if Saddam provided everything especially on the medicine front where is it all, now? the allies have been resupplying iraq with food and water since occupation, have the Iraq's squandered all the rest? or was it never there?

Saddam's regime quickly twisted the intended effect of economic sanctions to his advantage. The majority of medicine, food aid etc. was not distributed freely to the Iraqi people who needed it most, but it did find its way onto the black market for those who could afford it and had the right connnections. The fact that this policy caused widespread infant mortality among the poorest folk did not bother Saddam one bit - the endemic 'genocide' that resulted was attributed to sanctions, and therefore the instigators - the USA and the West. The country's black market infrastructure is clearly still in place, whereas the official bodies responsible for providing a host of facilities like hospitals water transport and power distribution are not.

Iraq is no more going to cope with the quantum shift to the western-style democracy espoused for it than any other Muslim-Arab state. US foreign policy is utilising this country's natural ethnic and religious divisions to ensure instability, or at least create an inherently weak and fragmented form of 'post-liberation' Government. I think it's hoped rather naively that the future Iraqi Government will fall roughly into line with US policy to ensure its own existence. The removal of foreign troops from its soil will rely equally on re-establishing critical dependency on the sole economic commodity it can trade on the world market - oil.

The paradox is that looking at most of the 'stable' regimes in the Middle East - tribal monarchies and oligarchies - all have one thing in common: the population respects and obeys a strong, dominant and controlling leadership. The stronger, the better. A weak or multi-party Governement will be a disaster in the making in this region - like Lebanon. Ask Terry Waite.

The spin-off benefits for US/UK companies is plain old capitalist enterprise - nothing wrong with that in essence, but invading countries is one hell of a worrying method to use in order to forge international trade links and foster good relations.